Daily Mail - 04.03.2020

82

QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020

82 FA CUP

2

CHELSEA

Willian 13

Barkley 64

0

LIVERPOOL

mARtIn

SAmUEL

Chief Sports Writer

at Stamford Bridge

ROSS ROCkEt ROCkS REdS

R

oss Barkley’s

critics reckon he

hangs on to the

ball too long. a

moment like that

came along in the 64th

minute last night. Barkley

striding through, Pedro in a

prime scoring position,

various observers willing

him to pass, just pass mate,

for God’s sake pass.

yet, as feared, Barkley held on to

it. Just long enough to score one of

the goals of the season. Just long

enough to score the goal that con-

firmed there would be no domestic

Double for liverpool this year.

on the last two occasions Chel-

sea have knocked them out of the

Fa Cup, 1997 and 2012, they have

gone on to win it. keep playing

like this and they will take some

stopping this year, too. Chelsea

were the better side, pretty much

start to finish, and had the game’s

star turn in 18-year- old Billy

Gilmour. For all the clamour over

liverpool’s young players in this

competition, it was Gilmour who

stole the show from Curtis Jones

and Neco Williams.

Deployed in Jorginho’s deep

pivot position, the scotland

Under 21 midfielder played just

like him except with greater

discipline, speed and vigour. The

role does not have to be as pon-

derous as sometimes Chelsea

make it, as Gilmour proved.

Unafraid to put a foot in, una-

fraid to collect the ball from the

back, unafraid to pick a pass and

to do all of that with vim, he set

Chelsea’s tempo in a way Jorginho

often does, but to their detriment.

It was a huge leap of faith for

Frank lampard to use him in such

a vital role, but Gilmour did not

let him down. Fabinho, in the same

position for liverpool, came up

short by comparison.

yet the night was crowned by

Barkley. He was outstanding in

midfield, too — his best perform-

ance for some time — and his goal

was a marvel, an echo of one eden

H a z a r d s c o r e d h e r e a g a i n s t

arsenal in 2017. Hazard’s dribble

was perhaps better that day, but

Barkley’s charge started deeper,

south of the centre circle in his

own half. olivier Giroud set him

away by winning a counter-attack-

ing header against Jones — but

Barkley’s run summed up Chel-

sea’s energy and ambition.

He simply powered through, with

Joe Gomez backing off to signifi-

cant cost. Pedro presented a

handy passing option at the end

but Barkley ignored him and went

optimistically for goal instead.

It beat adrian to his right, giving

Chelsea the cushion they desired

and deserved, and smoothing a

path into the quarter-finals. It was

a goal that merited the defeat of

liverpool, whose invincibility is

now very much in past tense.

By the end, Jurgen klopp had

introduced Mohamed salah and

roberto Firmino from the bench,

but they never looked like finding

a way through. kepa arrizabalaga,

restored to Chelsea’s first team

like a cup understudy, which must

have felt a mixed blessing, had

been outstanding in the first half

but was called upon less and less.

The match belonged very much

to Chelsea, who hit the bar twice

in the second half through a Mason

Mount free-kick and a good shot

from Giroud, battling through on

the edge of the area.

yet make no mistake, liverpool

were not happy to surrender this.

It was not a case of klopp giving

up on the Fa Cup, certainly not on

the back of a 3-0 reverse at

Watford and a 1-0 defeat at atletico

Madrid. Three of the first-choice

back four were present, plus

Fabinho in midfield and sadio

Mane up front. Given the points

gap between these teams, klopp

would have hoped to have had

enough. No manager sets out to

lose — certainly not to a signifi-

cant rival such as Chelsea.

N o r m a l s e r v i c e s h o u l d b e

resumed on saturday at home to

Bournemouth and everyone knows

where liverpool’s priorities lie this

season. yet winning is a habit and

it is one liverpool have lost of late.

This was their third defeat in four

games, their worst run across all

competitions since the end of the

2 0 1 7 - 1 8 s e a s o n ,

although that did

include the Cham-

pions league final,

and a semi-final

ag a i n s t r o m a

which began with

liverpool holding

a 5-2 first-leg lead.

so a deserved

Chelsea win, but

an excellent game,

m a d e a l l t h e

b e t t e r f o r t h e

s m a t t e r i n g o f

youth in the ranks,

and the odd senior

player with a point

t o p r o v e , l i k e

arrizabalaga, who stopped as

many shots in a matter of first-half

seconds as he had in the games

before he was dropped.

His opposite number, adrian, did

not fare as well and was culpable

for the first goal after 13 minutes,

along with Fabinho. Gomez played

a pass to Fabinho. It wasn’t the

best, but it was better than the

Brazilian made it appear.

Fabinho always looked troubled

bringing it under control and he

moved the ball on with panicked

haste, straight to the feet of

Willian. He shot from outside the

area, his speciality, and while the

strike kept low and moved in the

air, stand-in adrian made a

terrible hash of it. The ball

cannoned off his forearm and into

the corner of the net.

The pity was that less than a

minute earlier he had a made a

quite brilliant save to keep liver-

pool level. on this occasion it was

Pedro whose shot was deflected

across goal, to the feet of Willian.

He hit one with such venom it

seemed capable of leaving a smok-

ing hole in anything that blocked

its path. Instead, adrian matched

it with a stunning stop.

Will anyone remember that,

though? Probably not — they’ll

think about the error instead, his

third mistake to cost a goal this

season, more than any other

l iv e r p o o l p l a y e r. T h a t’ s t h e

goalkeeper’s lot in life.

and sometimes the blame game

is simply a matter of luck. antonio

rudiger made a complete howler

after only three minutes but,

fortunately for him, nothing came

of it. attempting a long ball out of

defence, he struck it squarely at a

red shirt, the rebound favouring

Mane, whose shot was saved by

a rr i z a b a l a g a a t t h e s e c o n d

attempt.

That was nothing compared to

his heroics in the 20th minute,

mind, when a goalmouth scramble

erupted that was so chaotic it

almost became a throwback to

those 1970s Fa Cup ties, played on

bogs of pitches between teams

whose shirt numbers had been

obscured by mud with no fresh

laundry available.

Divock origi, Mane and adam

lallana all had a crack, arrizaba-

laga made block after block after

block. He celebrated as though

the Cup had been won, and maybe

lampard allowed himself a satis-

fied inner smile, too.

That was the goalkeeper Chelsea

hoped to have signed for world

record money, the one who had

appeared so desperately out of

sorts before being dropped and

replaced by Willy Caballero.

If lampard has a win over

liverpool, a place in the Fa Cup

quarter-final, Billy Gilmour, and

the old arrizabalaga back after

this, it really was a special night

for Chelsea.

Barkley clinches spot

in the last eight after

Adrian’s early howler

StILL tO COmE...

tOnIGHt

Leicester v Birmingham 7.45pm, Facebook

Sheff Wed v man City 7.45pm, BBC One

tottenham v norwich 7.45pm, BBC iPlayer

tHURSdAY

derby v man Utd 7.45pm, BT Sport 1

QUARtER-FInAL dRAW:

Tonight, BBC after Sheff Wed v Man City

Blunder at

the Bridge:

Adrian lets

the ball in

for Willian’s

opener afp